Fiona Banner: The Vanity Press

Three new videos explore publishing and performance

When Fiona Banner began putting her work out under the name The Vanity Press in 1997, it was an ironic statement on how self-publishing was disparaged while Banner simultaneously seized the means of production for what was then a largely text-based canon, be it on film or in books. Fifteen years and one Turner Prize nomination on, this Edinburgh Art Festival show features three new videos: Mirror, a 'verbal striptease' based on a performance with actor Samantha Morton; Jane's, which parodies the hubris of sculpture-making; and Chinook, in which a choreographed Chinook helicopter performs an aerial ballet. The latter continues Banner's fascination with flight and military matters which has resulted in her penning a 1000-page book in which she described the plots of six Vietnam films – including Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket – in their entirety, as well as creating a sculpture of an RAF Jaguar for Tate Britain. Chinook itself takes an object of war and lends it a sense of beauty that takes it beyond the helicopter's original function in an exhibition in which Banner takes flight in a myriad of ways.